image/svg+xml Umpiring team Red team Blue team A Prussian infantry brigade is about to attack the Zuckerfabrik(German for "sugar factory", obviously and an important objec-tive) south of SADOVA. Two Austrian battalions are deplyed to defend it. Austrian artillery stands on a hill to the east, and twofull regiments of cavalry have been sent on a southern route toflank the approaching Prussians Back to main site. The Prussian Kriegsspiel (German for "war game")was designed to familiarize officers with fog of warexperiences, decinsion making in uncertain situa-tions, and effective information processing.To learn more about how this was done in the 19thcentrury, click thorough this resentation, or navi-gate with the arrow keys on your keyboard. Back to main site. 21/ How to Play the Prussian KriegsspielSteffen Pielström & Jorit Wintjes2019 Message Inbox Round no. 6 Round no. 6 Round no. 6 UmpiringThe basic idea was to rely completely on umpiresfor implementing rules and game mechanics.Participants in the teams needed no knowledge ofrules at all. They were only required to asses thesituation according to written messages, with theaid of a topographic map, and a set of tokens re-presenting units on the battlefield. They were ex-spected to decide according to their tactical judge-ment, and take action by writing orders, as theywould in the field. Back to main site. Back to main site. Three mapsThe Kriegsspiel is playedon three maps, ideallyplaced in three separaterooms. The red team therefore has a reletively realistic picture of theimmedeately surrunding their command post. Back to main site. The Austrian commander, indicated by the flag has placed him-self with his artillery on the hill. Back to main site. He can directly see the enemy battalions on the ROSKOS. ThePrussian forces behind that hill can be seen by the Austrianbattalions to their south, but messages from there arrive at the commander's position only with a delay.The cavalry regiments are on the move and temporarily out ofcontact. The Austrian commander's idea about their current po-sition slightly deviates from the "reality" at the umpires' table. Back to main site. Only the umpires have to deal with the rule book. The rules try to reward sound tactical decisions, but add a fair amount of uncer-tainty by dice rolls. Players are only informed about the results by messages writtenby their simulated subordinates, i.e. the umpires. Back to main site. At the same time, the Prussian commander atop the ROSKOS canalso see only a part of the Austrian units. Keeping his brigadetogether, he can see all his battalions and has a fairly realisticpicture of his own forces. Back to main site. Now the Austrian commander wants to take action against theapproaching enemy. He wants his artillery... Back to main site. ...to pound the Prussian battalions on the opposite ROSKOS hill. Back to main site. Meanwhile, the plan is for the cavalry to charge down from the hights around DUB into the enemy flank. Back to main site. OrdersThe way to take action in the Kriegsspiel is to write an order. To the right, you can see what such an order actually looked like in the late 19th century.It is an order written during a Kriegsspiel of the British Army, addressed to a brigade level forma-tion Back to main site. From: commander 11 infantry brigadeat: hilltop NE of CISTOWESTo: 11th rifled battery at: hilltop NE of CISTOWESRound: 6Simulated Time: 12:12 PMReal Time: 12:38 PMMessage no.: 9Engage enemy infantry on ROSKOS hill! From: commander 11 infantry brigadeat: hilltop NE of CISTOWESTo: cavalry brigade von Pücklerat: east of MXANRound: 6Simulated Time: 12:12 PMReal Time: 12:42 PMMessage no.: 10My dear Franz,enemy infantry, maybe in brigade strength,is moving against our position at the Zuckerfabrik from the north. I kindly ask youto take the heights around DUB without revea-ling your advance, and then charge the enemyflank to expel the Prussians from the valley. Meanwhile, my artillery will fire at enemy infan-try on ROSKOS hill.Your humble and obidient servant. The orders written (or dictated) by our Austriancommander may look like this. As they are ad-dressed to two different units, two orders are necessary (they will be despached by staff gal-lopers).It is very important note one's own and the recei-vers likely position, as messengers actually have to find recipients on the battlefield. Back to main site. Players put their orders into a message inbox nearthe door of the umpires' room, where the umpirespick them up at the beginning of each new round.Messages from red team are written on red paper,messages from blue team on blue paper. Back to main site. From: commander 11 infantry brigadeat: hilltop NE of CISTOWESTo: 11th rifled battery at: hilltop NE of CISTOWESRound: 6Simulated Time: 12:12 PMReal Time: 12:38 PMMessage no.: 9Engage enemy infantry on ROSKOS hill! From: commander 11 infantry brigadeat: hilltop NE of CISTOWESTo: cavalry brigade von Pücklerat: east of MXANRound: 6Simulated Time: 12:12 PMReal Time: 12:42 PMMessage no.: 10My dear Franz,enemy infantry, maybe in brigade strength,is moving against our position at the Zuckerfabrik from the north. I kindly ask youto take the heights around DUB without revea-ling your advance, and then charge the enemyflank to expel the Prussians from the valley. Meanwhile, my artillery will fire at enemy infan-try on ROSKOS hill.Your humble and obidient servant. Now, at the beginning of round 7, the umpires willread the Austrian commander's orders.The recipient of the fist order is close by on the map, the artillery can take action instantly. Back to main site. A roll of dice compared to table in the rule book tells the umpires that the 2nd battalion of the 68thPrussian Infantry Regiment, the front unit in the Austrians' line of fire, loses 38 men due to artilleryfire. Back to main site. From: 2nd battalio 68th Infantry Regimentat: south of ROSKOS HillTo: commander 11th Infantry Brigade at: ROSKOS hillRound: 7Simulated Time: 12:14 PMReal Time: 12:55 PMMessage no.: 3On the move southwards to ZUCKERFAKRIK. Taking heavy casualties by enemy artilleryfire from eastern direction. As a consequence, the umpires write a messageto the Prussian team, simulating how a subordi-nate officer would write a despatch to his superiorin a similar situation in the field. Back to main site. The cavalry brigade addressed in this order is veryfar away from the commander. The umpires decidethat it will take another 3 rounds until the despatcharrives and the recipient can act accordingly.In the meantime, the umpires will decide how thecavalry commander interprets his older standingorders and move the cavalry force accordingly. Back to main site. This concludes our presentation on how the Kriegsspiel was played in the 19th century. Back to main site. The umpire's mapThe situation on umpire's maps represents the "true reality" of the simulation. Umpires use thismap to judge what information should be available to the players.We are using this part of an original map with kind permission of the British Library (BLL01004805936). Back to main site.
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